Lanterns made with scrap paper that had music printed on one or both sides. *Photo: Juno Lamb*

We were sad to cancel Light in the Darkness, our lantern workshop in collaboration with the Cook Memorial Library and the Yeoman’s Fund for the Arts.

You can still make beautiful lanterns at home!

The idea for this style of lanterns came from a post on Babble Dabble Do, a fun site with lots of creative projects for kids or anyone. The lantern project post, with instructions and video, is HERE. If you scroll down you’ll see a big blue button that says “Print Templates Here,” where you’ll find both the cube and pyramid templates. (You'll see that the template includes a "light tab" and "discard" section that you can ignore unless you are using a small flameless candle/electric tea light.)

These lanterns were made on vellum with watercolor paint and marker. *Photo: Juno Lamb*

The photo above shows four lanterns hanging on one string of tiny LED lights, which is what we were going to make during the workshop. These ones were made with regular paper, not vellum (as the template calls for), which works fine and might be easier if you are using glue. If your paper is not sufficiently translucent, you can hold the template and paper up to a window or lampshade as a makeshift light box while you trace the template onto the paper. Or, as in the video, you can print the template directly onto the paper you will use.

A lantern made with gelatin-printed paper. *Photo: Suzanne Birdsall-Stone*

If you are using only glue, it may work best to glue one edge at a time and let it dry a bit before moving on to the next. Or, for glue and tape, see video...

Another possibility if you don't have any little lights is to make lanterns and leave a tiny bit by the corner unglued or un-taped, and slip them over the cool-to-the-touch LED fairy lights/Christmas tree lights, colored or white (please make sure you don't have the kind of lights that get hot after a while). If you make enough lanterns for an entire string of lights, please send a picture! Also—send any lantern pics you'd like to share!

If you don't have a printer, the Cook Library in Tamworth has templates you can pick up.